The first leaked pic of the upcoming official BlackBerry Twitter client has hit the web via @jmatuk and Bla1ze over at CB scooped it up. I know that the Twitter client is still going through updates, and I hope RIM is going to offer a feature set that makes it worthwhile to download. For example, rumor has it that you can set your Tweets to be pushed to your BBM status, which is just one way RIM can offer an advantage. Generally, if RIM does something we can expect greater integration with the device, because 3rd party developers don’t have the same API access.
By now, you may have come across SAM and MO BlackBerry. SAM and MO were created by Rogers for social networking initiatives, particularly focused on training sales staff to sell BlackBerry devices. They use a program called BlackBerry New School, which is a Facebook portal with a variety of ways to educate and engage staff including:
Twitter tips and tricks.
Forums (with point incentives that may be tied to rewards).
Quizzes (earn points for completing).
Videos (how tos).
Facebook features (wall posts, comments, etc.)
The carrier is better than the manufacturer when it comes to educating users, primarily because of the incredible exposure they have, and the marketing dollars they can invest. I think there are a few things that RIM can learn from Rogers and vice versa. Continue reading this article
Mongolia is only about 3 million and Ulaanbaatar is around 1 million, so isn’t going to have a big impact on RIM’s sales, but nonetheless RIM and Alcatel-Lucent have launched the BlackBerry solution in Mongolia. The Bold 9000, Curve 8320 and BlackBerry 8700 are all launching in Mongolia, as well as BES and BIS. We’re not sure on price, but it’s going to be a small subset of the population buying BlackBerry. With China being Mongolia’s biggest trading partner, and BlackBerry set to launch in China, this could be of big help to businessmen in the region.
TELUS have recently launched the BlackBerry Curve 8530 for $49.99 on a 3 year plan. You can also get it on 2 and 1 year plans for $249.99 and $349.99 respectively. The 8530 is a really solid phone with a trackpad and OS 5, and I’m expecting a lot of TELUS users to pick this one up. The downside here is that while many carriers are offering the 8530 for free, TELUS still want to offload their old 8330 stock and are offering that device for $0.
Wallpaper Shifter is a free app that lets you change your wallpaper automatically, allowing you to define a folder to take the wallpapers from, and an interval at which they rotate. The app is a discovery tool for other MMMOOO products, which I find are generally helpful and reasonably priced.
There is a BBM spam message going around that suggests 35 cents will be donated to help Haiti when you forward the message to others. The message reads:
“Because of what has transpired in Haiti recently, Blackberry (sic) has decided to help out and give 35 cents for the cause when you pass this message along to your friends on BBM”
While most readers are familiar with BBM, and have probably disregarded the message, there are still some new users who are genuinely confused. Since BBM messages are totally free, passing the message on won’t incur a fee, it’s just misleading. Continue reading this article
The President Theme is a free theme available in App World, compatible with all BlackBerry devices. On the 81XX, 83XX, 87XX and 88XX, this theme lacks a hidden dock, but you still get the basics.
This theme is very decent considering it’s free. It comes with the standard BlackBerry icons, and allows you to upload a custom wallpaper picture that gets framed within the theme. I think BlackBerry themes in general are really coming into themselves with more customization. If there was a paid version of this theme, it should include the ability to add stickers and writing to your picture, which is really popular in Asia.
Every day a new BlackBerry user is born and they may be coming from the feature phone world and have never before downloaded an app. If you’re a regular reader of BlackBerry Cool, you’re very familiar with the app downloading process, so feel free to skip the post or offer more helpful tips. Continue reading for some BlackBerry Basics help
We have a ton of users asking for SocialScope invites on BlackBerry Cool and I can only imagine it’s a fraction of what the team at SocialScope must receive. Today, the team behind SocialScope put up a post (at least I assume it’s them and not someone who started a Tumblr account in their name) telling users that they should just be patient. The SocialScope team will be expanding the beta program to include more users, and they’re sorry for offending anyone for not responding to inquiries. My guess is that SocialScope will be launching as a paid app, and they don’t want to include too many people and cannibalize sales. Continue reading this article
The good people at Epik Phone Cases are giving away 25 BlackBerry cases to 25 lucky BlackBerry Cool readers. We’ll be selecting people randomly from the comments, but if you leave your Twitter or Blog address in the URL field, your chances of winning will be GREATLY improved. If you want to exponentially improve your chances of winning, tell us a story about dropping your device, or anything about why you’d like an Epik case. Continue reading this post
